A legendary figure whose popularity endures in New Mexico is Elfego Baca, a lawman, lawyer, and politician in the closing days of the American wild west. Baca was born in 1865 just before the end of the Civil War and his family moved to Kansas when he was a young child. In 1880, he returned with his father to Belen, New Mexico where his father became a marshal. He drank too much, talked too much; and was often arrogant with no hesitance about killing. When he was 19 he stole some guns and bought a mail-order sheriff's badge, appointed himself deputy sheriff of Socorro County. His goal in life was to be a top-notch peach officer. He once said, "I want the outlaws to hear my steps a block away." The Southwest was still relatively untamed country. Cowboys roamed the land and did pretty much as they pleased; coming to town, to drink, harass the locals and shoot things up. In 1884 Baca arrested a cowboy who had been shooting up the town. Elfego refused to release his prisoner and took refuge. In the face of threats from the cowboy’s friends a standoff with a gang of 80 cowboys ensued. Though they fired more than 4,000 rounds into the house until it looked like Swiss cheese, not one of the rounds hit him. The fight went on for 36 hours, four of the attackers were killed and eight were wounded. The shooting stopped when they ran out of ammunition. Baca walked out of the house unharmed. Baca was charged for the murder of one of the cowboys in the attack and was jailed until his trial. Then he was acquitted after the door of the house with over 400 bullet holes was entered into evidence. When Elfego became sheriff of Socorro County, indictments were handed down for the arrests of many of the county's criminals. He sent a letter to each of the accused, saying, "I have a warrant here for your arrest. Please come in by March 15th and give yourself up. If you don't, I'll know you intend to resist arrest, and I will feel justified in shooting you on sight when I come after you." Most of the outlaws turned themselves in voluntarily. He once said, "I never wanted to kill anybody, but if a man had it in his mind to kill me, I made it my business to get him first." In 1888, Baca became a U.S. Marshal and served for two years before studying law. He was admitted to the bar and joined a Socorro law firm. Later, Baca was county clerk, mayor and school superintendent of Socorro, and the district attorney for Socorro and Sierra counties. Elfego Baca lived a remarkable life, legends notwithstanding. Although he died quietly in his bed in 1945 at age 80, he had more brushes with death than most men of his time.